Explore the Family Name Dovey

The meaning of Dovey

1. Irish: variant of Duffy. 2. English: habitational name perhaps from the valley of the River Dovey (Dyfi) in Merionethshire and Cardiganshire in Wales, specifically Aberdovey (Merionethshire). 3. Americanized form of Norwegian Dåvøy: habitational name from a farm so named in western Norway, from dove ‘shaking bog’ + øy ‘island’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Dovey in the United States?

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Dovey has seen a decrease in popularity over time. In 2000, it ranked as the 55,849th most popular surname and slipped to 61,899th by 2010. This represents a change of -10.83 percent. Similarly, the count of individuals with this surname also decreased during this period; there were 343 instances of the Dovey surname in 2000 and this figure dropped to 324 by 2010, marking a -5.54 percent change. The proportion of this surname per 100k people also followed this downward trend, depreciating by -15.38 percent from 0.13 to 0.11.

20002010Change
Rank#55,849#61,899-10.83%
Count343324-5.54%
Proportion per 100k0.130.11-15.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Dovey

In terms of ethnicity, according to the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority of individuals with the Dovey surname identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, although there was a slight decrease of -1.75 percent from 97.38 to 95.68 percent over the decade. There was no recorded change for those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Two or more races, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native. However, the data shows an emergence of individuals with the Dovey surname identifying as Hispanic in 2010, accounting for 1.85 percent of the total, which was not present in the 2000 data.

20002010Change
White97.38%95.68%-1.75%
Hispanic0%1.85%0%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%0%0%
Two or More Races0%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%